Alwar MP dies, religious heir was filling ‘gap’

BJP MP from Alwar Mahant Chandnath passed away at a Delhi hospital in the early hours on Sunday after prolonged illness. He was 61.

Chandnath began his political career in 2004 when he contested the parliamentary election from Alwar and lost to Congress’ Karan Singh Yadav by 8,400 votes. Yadav was an MLA from Behror ; his election to the Lok Sabha warranted a bypoll in Behror. The BJP fielded Chandnath, who headed the Nath sect of Hinduism, in the by-election.

The religious leader defeated Jaswant Singh Yadav, a BJP rebel who fought as an Independent, by 13,000 votes.

After his assembly term was over in 2008, Chandnath disappeared from politics. He focused on religious works from his mutt in Rohtak, Haryana. He returned to politics in 2014 when the BJP fielded him for LS election from Alwar. The Nath sect leader defeated incumbent MP and union minister Jitendra Singh.

Chandnath was active in Alwar for six months after the election, meeting people and holding public hearings in all eight assembly segments. But for more than two years, he went missing again. People close to him said he had cancer and couldn’t focus on political works.

Last year, some people in Alwar city put up ‘missing’ posters for their MP. Development works were stuck; MLAs were clueless about sending proposals for works under the MP local area development (MPLAD) fund.

“He (Chandnath) was battling an aggressive thyroid cancer for the last two-and-a-half years. He had already undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was undergoing immunotherapy,” said a doctor at Delhi’s Apollo Hospital.

“We had conducted tracheostomy. He was being fed through a tube in his stomach. Yesterday, he was doing fine during the daytime, but his condition deteriorated at night and he suffered a cardiac arrest. He died around 12.40 am,” he said.

The doctor said Chandnath survived longer because he was “mentally tough.”

For last few months, the mahant’s religious heir, Balaknath, became active in politics and began meeting people from the Lok Sabha constituency to fill up for the MP’s absence.

“Saddened by the demise of LS MP from Alwar, Mahant Chand Nath ji. He will be remembered for his rich social work. My deepest condolences,” PM Narendra Modi said in a tweet. CM Vasundhara Raje and said the mahant’s death was an irreparable loss to her and the entire BJP family.

(With PTI inputs from Delhi)